Melbourne Chinatown

Located in nineteenth century buildings on the strip of Little Bourke Street between Swanston and Spring streets, you’ll find Australia’s oldest Chinatown. The gold rushes of the 1850s Chinese migrants established the Chinese quarter where lodgings housed those en route to the goldfields. Those who did not return to China went back to Melbourne where they found work and established businesses to cater for the local Chinese and non Chinese community.

Little Bourke Street is today a bustling collection of Asian restaurants and cafes mingled with an eclectic mix of Chinese run businesses with Chinoiserie facades. You can get there by taking any tram along Swanston Street to Bourke or Lonsdale streets or on the free City Circle Tram to Parliament House on Spring Street, then walk to Little Bourke Street.

Chinese MuseumGet an introduction to Chinatown’s 150-year history, especially at the interactive “Finding Gold” exhibition, Australia’s 200-year Chinese history told through artefacts as well as the story of recent arrivals from all parts of the Asia Pacific region since the 1950s. The Museum is home to Dai Loong and the millennium Dragon, the largest Chinese dragon in the world. Take a Chinatown heritage tour or kid’s treasure hunt. The museum includes a Visitor Centre. Entry is free and the museum and visitor centre is open seven days a week, from 10am to 5pm.